Naturals
by starlitsmile
Summary: The uglies want to be pretty. The pretties want to be prettier. But for Mindelle, a natural-born pretty, what she wants is adventure. Set before the first book, please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

----- I've only JUST finished Uglies and won't be able to read the rest until school resumes and I can get into the library, hope this story makes a little bit of sense… ----

Everyone always told her parents how lucky they were. Everyone always pinched Mindelle's perfect cheeks and patted her silky hair. Everyone wanted to know what it was like, looking out from her perfectly-spaced, beautifully-coloured eyes. Living each day in her skinny-but-not-too-skinny, tall-but-not-too-tall, athletic-but-not-too-athletic, body.

See the thing was, Mindelle was a natural-born pretty. One in a million. Even as a littlie, she was cuter than the rest. Something just stuck out about her. As she got older it became more obvious, and when her decent to uglyhood just never occurred, everyone knew.

All the same, her parents – Ave and Towner – took her to the doctor, just to be sure. "Is there anything wrong with our daughter?" they had inquired.

But no. Quite the opposite. There was _nothing_ wrong with her at all. Not a frizzy piece of hair, not a single bruise on her porcelain legs, not even the slightest hint of a pimple on her perfectly shaped nose.

So while Mindelle's sister, Jenay, got called Gawky and her brothers, Poel and Chave, were nicknamed Square-Head and Crooked-Teeth, Mindelle was perfect. The other uglies never gave her a name – they just called her the 'natural born'.

"That's her," kids would whisper as she walked by, "The _natural born_ pretty."

Mindelle had found it kind of awkward as a kid growing up in the dorms, the soul pretty in a sea of uglies. The only one going by her given name while the rest were called Fatso, Zitty, and Uni-Brow.

On the day of her sixteenth birthday, Mindelle spent it alone. She could have crossed over to New Pretty Town three years ago. Instead, she stayed hidden in her room. She had no tricks to play and no pretty morphs to make.

Mindelle was a natural born pretty.

And one of the most bored pretties out there.


	2. Chapter 2

---- I've decided this will take place two years before Shay and Tally make it to the Smoke, in order for it to be up and running so that Mindelle can have her chance to experience the Smoke. Hope that's ok with everyone. Thanks a billion times over for the reviews!! ----

Mindelle knew no one was coming for her.

Only a handful of uglies were getting their operation in August, and they'd all gone off already. Ave and Towner had promised to meet her in New Pretty Town with a 'special surprise' – something Mindelle suspected was a car or an apartment. Chave and Jenay would be there too, and so would Bale, her only true friend (who happened to be two years older than her).

But first, Mindelle would just have to go across the river herself. Staring out her window at the lights of New Pretty Town, she had no desire to go. Mindelle had spent her entire life being the only pretty there was. Now suddenly she'd be swept into a pool o pretties. And what if she didn't measure up? What if she should have gotten that operation despite what everyone said?

Mindelle had to admit it. She was scared.

"A typical chicken you are," she cursed herself, still looking out her window – but not with longing, with contempt.

Mindelle thought back to when she was twelve years old, plastered for a couple of weeks on the front of magazines and on talk shows. How when she was fourteen the world picked up interest in her for another month. A natural pretty! Every headline proclaimed. Mindelle has despised the attention. If she went to New Pretty Town, then she'd just be average – just like everyone else.

Sure, the doctors had explained, she'd go for that operation when she was about thirty, maybe. To ensure that she stayed pretty – because everyone knew, you could be a natural pretty, but there was no escaping that epidemic of wrinkles and liver spots and false teeth.

Only Mindelle could see how everyone just did it so willingly. Why have yourself cut open like that? What if you died? And if you did die, she wondered, did they at least give you the grace of being buried a pretty? Or were you ugly – forever?

And yet why did it matter, anyway? She had looked in the mirror every day, at a face proclaimed pretty, and yet still managed to find flaws with herself. She figured it was just how you perceived pretty. And what if your idea of pretty was different than those doing the surgery? _Then_ what?

Mindelle sighed and pushed herself up from the window sill. She looked at the hoverboard leaning against her wall. After she had moaned about being dead bored, one ugly had offered to teach her how to hoverboard in an exchange for beauty tips. The only beauty tips Mindelle had were brush your hair and take a shower, but she figured she could pretend in order to get the lessons.

Mindelle wasn't very good at hoverboarding – at all – because she had no sense of balance. It seemed to be that every other second the crash bracelets were saving her ass. But not only had the ugly taught her how to hoverboard, she had taught her how to trick the board. "It's one of the easiest tricks ever, anybody can do it," they had claimed modestly.

Mindelle didn't know if that was true. She had followed the instructions on how to trick her board easily enough, even jotted them down, but she had never attempted to do so. In her mind, if she couldn't even stay on the damn board then there was no way she'd pull off something like a trick.

Now Mindelle looked at her wall and clicked through all the entries that she had typed in, looking for on that vaguely reminded her of how to trick her board. She found it under the label, "Ugly Trick," and scanned through it quickly before going over to her board and fixing it up.

She remembered how the ugly had given her grippy shoes. Mindelle didn't have any now. She'd recycled them a while ago – or maybe the ugly had taken them back when she stormed off, dissatisfied with Mindelle's beauty advice. Mindelle hadn't blamed the ugly. She herself couldn't even understand why she did nothing at all and wound up looking so nice. The doctors had said it was genes, but if that was so, she couldn't understand why her siblings hadn't wound up pretty, too.

Now Mindelle went to the edge of her window, wearing some of her beat-up old runners and her clothes from that day. She hadn't gotten changed into her pajamas yet.

Her breath came out in pants as she pushed herself forward and jerkily began to fly. Her eyes were squeezed shut tight from nerves and now she opened one slowly, took a peek below her, and was so gabsmacked that she slipped and went spinning around, painfully being caught by the bracelets.

Mindelle found herself giggling, "Way to go," she spoke sarcastically, "You made it about two metres from your window."

Then she was off again, going for a little bit. "Fantastic, Min. You can do this," she whispered. Down below her a light snapped on in a window. "Gahh!" she wobbled and was flung off.

"Damn," she cursed, looking around. She still had only gone some metres away.

She went like that, all stop and go, so full of excitement that it wasn't until she spotted a familiar sight that she realized how far she had gotten. Her stomach lunged and her mouth went dry. Without the warning, she hadn't realized that she'd gone all the way to the Rusty Ruins.

Mindelle bit her lip, "Shit shit shit," she swore. Now what? She knew the way back – vaguely. Mindelle peered below her. What would it be like, she wondered, if she took a field trip all of her own?

After falling off six more times, she eventually found out that the ruins went much farther back than she had known before. And, at the top of one purely metal structure, she saw the flashing brilliance of a sparkler.

"Oh…" she whispered. Mindelle didn't want to get caught, but she was curious. "Curiosity killed the cat," she muttered to herself before luniticly responding, "Yet satisfaction brought it back."

And off she – not so elegantly – flew.


	3. Chapter 3

----- Wow thanks for all the supportive and hilarious reviews! I didn't think this story would be much of a hit, but I guess I was wrong! Hope you all enjoy this chapter! ----

Mindelle could see them better now, illuminated by the fading light of the sparkler. It was a group of them on hoverboards, maybe five or six uglies. In the night, with all of them clad in hoodies and jeans, she couldn't tell which were girls and which were boys. But it didn't really matter to Mindelle. Sure, she was incredibly questioning about what was going on, but she wasn't the type of girl who just approached people like that. She just wasn't bold.

She wasn't very far away from them at all. As the sparkler went out and darkness draped the group once more, Mindelle could still see the outline of their bodies. If she reached out a hand, she'd be able to touch the one that was off to the side, flinching at the flash of the sparkler.

Suddenly the one closest to her – he or she, Mindelle didn't know – went back just a little bit. Mindelle was startled, flung herself back, and gave out a frightened squeal as she fell of her hoverboard once more, capturing the groups' attention.

"What the hell was that?" "It's a girl on a hoverboard!" "I didn't notice her following us here," "I didn't even notice her at all!"

Once Mindelle regained her balance she had every eye staring at her. As she lifted her face up, a little bit of light from the moon trickled down, exposing her for what she was. "She's a pretty! A spy! Let's get out of here!" came the shout from someone in the group, and they all began to zoom away.

"Wait! I'm not a pretty, and I'm not a spy!" Mindelle yelled. She knew they heard but also knew none of them would stop. Why should they? To them, she was just a pretty, ruining their ugly fun.

But surprisingly, one did stop. Just long enough to jeer at her. "Oh yeah? So you're telling us you're an ugly? Nice mask you got there." "C'mon Oily-Face, let's go!" another ugly yelled out at him.

Only his question had caused some of the other uglies to stop, wanting to hear the answer. "Well…I'm not and ugly either but I haven't….I haven't had the operation." Mindelle sputtered. "How old are you, huh?" The ugly that had yelled at Oily-Face inquired. "Fifteen. No – actually sixteen. Today's my birthday."

"Happy birthday," came a voice from behind her. Mindelle whirred around, coming face to face with an ugly boy, who, Mindelle couldn't help thinking, was kind of good-looking for an ugly boy. All the same, she stumbled and slipped off her board once more.

"Aww Suck-Up look what you've made her do. Again!" someone complained. Getting back up, Mindelle couldn't help but think that all the ugly nicknames she had heard had been about appearance – never personality.

"Hey, just tell us the truth," an ugly girl said, coming up to Mindelle slowly so as not to frighten her off her board once more, "Are you an ugly or a pretty?"

Mindelle sucked in a breath, "Neither," she admitted, "I'm a natural."

There was a collective gasp and then someone snorted, "Figures Toothpick got the story out of her."

The uglies began to laugh then. Some chuckles and giggles before it just became a whole-hearted laugh. Mindelle looked down at her toes, too embarrassed and shy to do anything else.

"Hey," the ugly-but-attractive boy said to Mindelle, "Were you on the TV a while ago? One in a million or whatever? Mind…Minda?"

"Yeah, but it's Mindelle. Not Minda." She corrected before adding, "I didn't mean to…I mean I just…I tricked my board and then….you guys…" her voice faded away. "You aren't very good at boarding." A different girl pointed out. Now Mindelle could tell that there were five of them, two girls and three boys. So far the only names she had sussed out were Toothpick, Suck-Up, and Oily-Face.

"I know I'm not. Um, what were you doing? With the sparkler? Don't you think you could get…caught?" Mindelle ventured. "Well _sure_," Toothpick countered, "But haven't you heard about the Smoke? And David?" "David? What's that?" Mindelle was confused. "David is not a what," Oily-Face snapped, "David is a who!"

"Who?" Mindelle made a face, skeptical. Everyone laughed again. "I'm Boney. That's Suck-Up, the nice one. Oily-Face, the mean one. Toothpick, the only other girl. And Bruise." The other ugly girl introduced. "I'm Mindelle," Mindelle repeated in case she hadn't been heard the first time, "But who's David? And what kind of name is that, anyway."

Toothpick smiled and reached over to put a welcoming arm around Mindelle, "We have a lot to teach you," she said.

But the friendly arm just knocked Mindelle off her board once more, and the laughter began again.


	4. Chapter 4

Mindelle woke up to the sun coming in from her window. It was high in the sky, meaning she had slept late.

Mindelle rubbed her eyes and pulled her fingers through her tangly bed-head hair – the hair that, despite being unbrushed, would still look nicer than most uglies' hair, she knew from experience.

Last night she had stayed with those uglies for a long time, being told about David and the Smoke, and also the uglies lives in general. All of them were fifteen, with both Oily-Face and Suck-Up turning sixteen in a week (their birthdays were just a day apart) and the other three not turning sixteen for another couple of months.

Learning that Mindelle didn't have a nickname, they had happily told her their real names. Toothpick was Albany, Boney was named Tayen, Bruise was actually Geo, Oily-Face held the name of Guy, and Suck-Up preferably went by Zaccai. They all agreed that Mindelle could call them by those names instead – they liked it better that way, anyhow.

"So do you have to get the operation?" Tayen had inquired, hanging on to Mindelle's every word. "Well not right now. But when I'm a middle pretty, or around that age, then yes." Mindelle had replied. "What are you doing hoverboarding all the way out here, since you're so bad at it?" Guy had jeered. Mindelle shrugged, "Impulse? I just had to get away." She couldn't quite explain why she had done what she had.

"So then when are you going over to New Pretty Town? In the morning?" Geo had wanted to know. But Mindelle couldn't answer that question. She knew that if she didn't show up soon, Ave and Towner would come around looking for her. Bale might even show up. But as Mindelle was told more and more about the Smoke – well, she wanted to go see it for herself. She wanted to know the world a bit better before she entered a life of non-stop partying.

So now as she stretched and bathed and got dressed, Mindelle looked over at New Pretty Town. The city seemed to be in a lull, like one big hangover.

Then she shook her head and left her room, heading outside, where she had agreed to meet those uglies at – Mindelle looked at her wall to read the time. She was thirty minutes late. Oh well. She'd just have to run for it.

---- I know this chapter was short, sorry. So how do you like the names? I had a fun time picking them out, because they're all actual names! ----


	5. Chapter 5

---- Here is the chapter you've deserved for a longg time. It's been a month since I've had more or less anything to do with fanfiction, namely my own. I'm sorry! I don't even have an excuse. Good news is, I've begun Pretties, and only have 100 or so pages left. I hope you like this chapter, and I hope you're still reading, and I apologize once more for taking so very long to update. ----

"You're late," Toothpick – Albany, Mindelle reminded herself – commented.

"I know," Mindelle replied, "I'm sorry. I overslept."

"It's a shock you're even here," Tayen spoke up, "I sure wouldn't be. Why aren't you a full-fledged pretty yet?"

Mindelle shrugged. She had wondered the same thing herself.

"I bet she's a spy. You're a spy, aren't you? She's a spy! Probably working for…" Guy lowered his voice, "…Specials."

A collective gasp rang out and everyone jumped away from Mindelle – the thought had never occurred to them before, clearly, but now they acted as though she was murderous.

Only Zaccai stayed put. "Really, guys, what are you? Littlies? Obviously Mindelle isn't a spy."

"And how do you know?" Guy sneered.

"What kind of spy doesn't have an interface ring? And what kind of Special isn't…scary?" Tayen said now, also recognizing the truth.

"Specials? As in…Special Circumstances?" Mindelle frowned, looking at the clique of Uglies surrounding her, "You must have littlie minds, to think Specials exist."

"They do!" Geo piped.

"You're liars," Mindelle protested with an eye-roll, "I can't believe you all actually still think Special Circumstances exist. Come on, guys. It's all just horror stories."

"No," Albany disagreed, "We've met them."

Mindelle let a gasp pop out of her mouth. Her evenly-spaced-apart and already-wide eyes grew wider, her flawless and creamy skin grew paler, and her tall, thin frame began to shake.

"I don't think," she began, voice hoarse, "I don't think I should be friends with you."

She couldn't believe it. The only chance she'd ever had at true friends – and she was _willingly_ turning them down.

"Mindelle!" "Oh!" "But we weren't that bad, really!" Came the fretful cries from the Uglies.

"So then, you must trust us, at least, right?" Zaccai reasoned, "You wouldn't be so frightened if you thought we were lying…and if you were a spy you wouldn't be so _shocked_."

"Maybe she's programmed –" Guy started to protest but Geo gave him a shove. "Cram it, Oily-Face." He directed.

"I vote." Tayen added in, quietly and swiftly.

Her words meant nothing to Mindelle, but they seemed to send the group a signal.

"I vote," Albany echoed, and then Geo, and then Zaccai.

"Well I for one am not taking her to the Smoke." Guy hissed with a glare pointed straight at Mindelle.

"The Smoke?" Mindelle inquired, her mind already beginning to calculate. It might even be kind of cool. A way to see the world, just until she was ready for New Pretty Town.

"There's gotta be a reason why you haven't left Uglyville yet. Think about it. Come on, Mindelle. Adventure, ideas…?" Zaccai encouraged.

Mindelle looked at him. Adventure, ideas…maybe even romance? She grinned.

"I'm in," she told them.


	6. Chapter 6

---- Thank you for being so supportive and reviewing. I'm glad you like this story!

Kayrose7 and Lexii-520: Here's some more!

SparkelMeMicah: When you first sent the review I was totally confused about who Zane even was. Now I know, but I still don't know if Tally chooses him or David…

Bluestatic and Water Droplets: You were my first reviewers and I hope you're still liking the story

Whoeslonelyroadistheanswer: Thank you for saying this story is great, and for suggesting plot ideas…hmm…

Anna and dakprincess121: Thanks for reviewing I hope you're still reading

Egypt-Girl-9: Thanks, I'll do my best to make the chapters longer

Cigarettes and Moonlight: Here's some more to read 

Palerthanbella: You haven't updated or reviewed in a while. Where are you?

That's my super-long shout-out and author's note. To those who haven't reviewed (I've checked my story traffic page, I know there's quite a few) thank you thank you thank you for even giving my fanfic a chance! ----

They had chosen to leave the next night. Guy and Zaccai would be sixteen soon, and also, Mindelle really couldn't buy herself any more time. Both Jenay and Bale had come around for visits, and Mindelle couldn't think of any more lies to put them off.

"Honestly Mindelle you are so logic-missing. Why are you still in Uglyville? Where's the fun-making in that?" Jenay had squawked, although Mindelle suspected her sister – who, even as a pretty still wasn't as pretty as Mindelle – was secretly glad Mindelle was taking her sweet time in crossing the river.

Bale, on the other hand, had been much more persistent.

"With you we'd get in to all the bubbly parties," Bale had drawled. Even as an ugly, Bale had always been about partying. She'd gotten drunk many times and even lost her virginity as an ugly, although everyone said it was better to wait until you were pretty.

"Why?" Mindelle had inquired, "I'd look just like everyone else."

"But you wouldn't have to be operated on. Being cut open is so bogus. Your skin, like, totally stings. It's completely enjoyment-missing." Bale had reasoned.

Another thing Mindelle had always been worried about: The pretty lingo. Did you pick it up? Or was something done to your speech during the surgery, too? In which case, Mindelle was utterly doomed.

So, Mindelle and her new ugly friends had decided. And now it was time to go. Mindelle had been told to pack a bag with another change of clothes, some toothbrush pills, and a hairbrush. The uglies would take care of getting the food and water filters.

Guy had even suggested not to bother with a hoverboard, because it'd be better if she just rode with someone else. He was probably right, but Mindelle was going to bring it all the same. After all, she had to get to the Rusty Ruins somehow, and she sure as hell wasn't walking.

Mindelle had on her jacket, grippy shoes, and now hitched her knapsack over her shoulder. She looked over at New Pretty Town. The uglies had warned that, if they were caught, nothing good would happen. But what could be so bad? Despite her friend's words, she still didn't believe in Specials, and even if they did exist, what could they do to her? She was a pretty! No, better – she was a natural.

***

"They're not coming." Guy spat at the ground. Mindelle frowned, her thoughts on New Pretty Town.

"Yes, they are." Tayen insisted. Both Albany and Mindelle nodded furiously. Zaccai and Geo _had_ to show up. Why wouldn't they?

"Face it. It's our lives or theirs. Obviously, Mindelle's influence has gotten to them." Guy snarled. Mindelle frowned.

"Influence? What am I, some Rusty drug?" She snapped, remembering her teacher's stories about how during Rusty times they'd get high off drugs, a bit like alcohol, except it could be deadly.

"You could stand being ugly when there was nothing but uglies around. Some pretty comes along and that changes things." Guy muttered.

Mindelle thought about how stupid new pretties tended to act. She didn't like being thought of as one of them.

"I am not a pretty. I'm a natural. I'm not one of them!" she protested.

Albany and Tayen shared a look. "Mindelle, you so should have been born ugly. Us and them. Isn't that the truth?" Albany sighed.

"Us and them and _her_," Guy hissed, but no one was listening anymore.

"Why don't we go to the dorm. See if they're there." Tayen suggested. But Guy shot the idea down. "We need the night, we can't waste more time. And anyway, it's not like we need anything from them. Albany has the supplies for Mindelle, and the rest of us have our own stuff." He argued.

Twenty minutes later and they all had to agree. There would be no waiting around for Zaccai and Geo. Mindelle felt her short-lived crush on Zaccai die out. But then she looked around her. She was in Rusty Ruins. In a few days, she'd be in The Smoke.

At that moment, Mindelle was the furthest thing from disappointed.


	7. Chapter 7

---- Abbey Mae thanks for the advice, I'll do my best to make it totally original, tell me if it's a bit too plagerised!! :) As for everyone else, enjoy the chapter and, oh yeah! I finished Pretties and am on to Specials. Hooray! :) ----

They flew for three hours, hovering above the river and it's convenient minerals that kept their boards going. Mindelle found herself, for the second time that evening, shivering and soaking after being dunked in the river.

"Please, Mindelle," Tayen begged, "Would you just ride with me?"

"What about my b-b-board?" Mindelle argued. Both Tayen and Albany looked at Guy who sighed and said, "I can control two boards at once, you know."

Mindelle sighed. Her number-one hater just so happened to be great at something she couldn't figure out for the life of her. Typical.

"Maybe we should stop," Albany spoke up, "I mean, Mindelle could catch a cold."

"Mindelle this, Mindelle that. Really, she's just slowing us down. She's _probably_ doing it on purpose!" Guy seethed. For the billionth time, Mindelle wished it had been Guy who had chickened out instead of Geo or Zaccai. But of course, if Guy had decided not to come, it would have been due to his total hate for her, not because he was afraid to.

Mindelle gritted her teeth. Either way, she wanted to get to The Smoke as quick as possible. She didn't want to get everyone caught. They were hardly an hour's hovercar-drive away, mostly thanks to her utter lack of hoverboarding skills.

"No, please, let's hurry." She urged. Guy smiled at her for the first time ever. And after an exchanged glance, Tayen and Albany smiled, too.

Another couple of hours later, with Mindelle sharing Tayen's board and sleep weighing down on all four of them like an incredibly heavy now-extinct Rusty elephant.

"We have to go on," Guy spoke up, as if reading their thoughts, "I mean, soon it'll be day time. We have to cover some ground."

"How do you three even know where it is?" Mindelle asked wearily.

The three shared another secret look. Then Albany spoke. "Remember how we told you about our brush with Specials?" _That same 'brush' which I believe to be false,_ Mindelle thought but didn't say.

"Well, anyhow," Albany went on, "We met David. We had – have – directions from him. Somehow, the Specials found out. They've given us a tracker."

Mindelle's beautiful eyes widened, "You mean…you're going to betray the Smoke?"

Of course, she'd only known the group and known about the Smoke for a few days. But she still felt attached and didn't think they were traitors, either.

"Of course not," Guy huffed. His hoverboard dipped and swirved for a bit while he shuffled around in his pocket. Then he located what he was looking for and pulled out a tiny, hardly noticeable device disguised as a pin.

Tayen, who Mindelle was clutching on to, looked back and said, "Let us know when you see a bird." with a jubilant grin on her face.

After a long, long time, when the sun began to rise, the ugly clique and Mindelle landed, setting up sleeping bags not to far from the river itself but still concealed by the trees.

"Goodnight, Natural." Guy sneered just before Mindelle dozed off.

The last thing she remembered was saying, "Goodnight, Uglies."

***

In the morning Mindelle was the last one awake. Guy snorted when he saw her. "Sleeping beauty, literally."

Mindelle remembered that littlie story well. It was from Pre-Rusty times. Even back then, being a pretty was a number one want. Mindelle just rolled her eyes at Guy's comment.

"What's for breakfast?" she asked Albany, who was busy with everyone's water filters.

"Omelets!" Albany replied gleefully. Mindelle nodded and looked at the river. She watched the fish swim by.

"Why not a fish?" she said softly, mostly to herself.

"Hmm?" Tayen questioned, returning from a little distance away, where she'd gone to the washroom.

"You said to watch out for birds. Well, why don't you stick it to a fish?" Mindelle suggested, thinking of the tracker.

"That wouldn't work. Sticking the tracker to a fish would kill it. It wouldn't take the Specials very far off course." Guy argued. _If there _are_ any Specials_, Mindelle thought automatically. But now that her friends had revealed the tracker, which was – in Mindelle's opinion – solid evidence, she was a bit more sure that Special Circumstances was a sorry truth.

Mindelle shrugged. She didn't really care if her idea was shot down. It had only been a suggestion, after all.

"Well then," Tayen spoke, "Let's eat and then get this show on the road!"

It was only then that Mindelle realized the sun was already beginning to set. She'd slept for a long, long time.


End file.
